How to Tackle High-volume Deliveries During Christmas With An Advanced Route Planner?

Who doesn’t love the holiday season?

I think everyone loves this season as they get some quality time with their family, loved ones, and friends. Sending gifts to each other and planning get-togethers for lunch or dinner parties.

But this season is the busiest season for courier and postal delivery businesses. They have to deliver thousands of parcels, packages, and gifts on time to make the holiday season special for senders and receivers.

However, delivering gifts during the busy holiday season comes with its own challenges like traffic, weather, lack of communication, and more. Several problems can make it difficult for delivery businesses and delivery drivers to tackle high-volume deliveries. Continue reading this blog to know how to tackle high-volume deliveries during holiday seasons like Christmas.

Challenges Delivery Businesses Face In Holiday Season

Some of the most common challenges faced by seasonal gift & courier delivery businesses while making deliveries during Christmas are as follows:

• Bad weather & traffic jams;
• Missed deliveries or later deliveries;
• Unable to fulfill same-day delivery;
• Poor customer communication leads to unhappy customers.

To avoid these problems or even get a hold of them, you need good planning and accurate optimization. All you need is advanced route planning & optimization software.

Consider These Variables To Avoid Delivery Delays

With the increased number of deliveries and the complexity of the routes, the number of variables being considered also increases. You must consider these variables at the time of delivery route planning. Some of the major variables are as follow:

• Details of the packages
• Customer preferences (time windows & additional notes for delivery)
• Distance between the stops
• Traffic & Weather
• Vehicle type
• Recording proof of delivery
• Driver availability
• Customer communication

Once these factors are clubbed with other factors like the number of stops to be covered, delivery speed, and the number of vehicles in the fleet, the route planning, and optimization process gets complex with each new variable.

The Downside of Manual Route Planning & Optimization

No matter how much time or energy you spend in manually planning delivery routes, it is never going to come close to accurate, ever. There will always be variables left out that will lead to major errors.

1. Unable To Create Fastest Or Most Efficient Route

   While manually planning delivery routes, you will have to consider things like real-time traffic patterns, driver shift timings, delivery time windows, priority orders, and the time it takes to go from one stop to another.

   Let’s face it, technology is better than us at doing these calculations. When most issues are not solved at the time of planning, your drivers are bound to waste time on the road, because their delivery route is inefficient.

2. Incomplete Or Incorrect Addresses

   Planning multi-stop routes manually is a process filled with opportunities for human error. Even the smallest detail in the address matters.

   For instance, if you get the street name wrong or the pin code jumbled up, your drivers will end up looking for an address that doesn’t exist. These types of errors not only waste time and fuel but also can’t be solved instantly.

3. No Real-time Delivery Constraints

   Real-time delivery constraints like traffic conditions, road closures, customer unavailability, & service time need to be considered. Doing it manually will require a lot of your time and energy.

   Let’s say you have 80 stops on a delivery route to be optimized and divided among 2 drivers. But the driver shift timings are different and you need to consider service time for each stop while also deciding the best route to cover each stop. You’ll probably spend an entire day planning this route and it still won’t be accurate.

4. Limited Resources & Last-minute Changes

   Planning requires you to match all the delivery stops with the available drivers for the day. When these factors are not considered, you will end up with more stops on a route than you will be able to complete.

   It can be difficult when a driver calls in sick and you have to re-plan the route with a different driver. We don’t need to remind you how frustrating last-minute changes are, right?

5. Can’t Consider Delivery Time Windows

   Often customers have a requirement to get their package delivered at a particular time. The delivery time for such priority orders might clash with deliveries in a different area. This makes it difficult to plan the route.

   While manually planning routes, it is often easy to miss such priorities. Delivery experience is a deciding factor whether or not a customer will come back to your business or not. Failing to meet customer needs can prove to be costly for your business.

6 Benefits of Using Advanced Route Planner For Final Mile Delivery

Why don’t you look beyond manual route planning and try using an advanced route planner?

Take a look at some of the major benefits of route planning software for final mile delivery.

1. Increase Delivery Efficiency Per Route

   Assigning a team of dispatchers to plan delivery routes is a waste of resources. On top of that, your delivery drivers spend at least an hour or two manually optimizing routes while on the road. This is a waste of time and resources.

   To be able to efficiently use your resources & boost productivity, you must use an automated route planner. It helps you streamline all your planning & optimization activities to ensure all your resources are utilized to their full potential.

2. Keep Record For Each Delivery

   When using a route planner like Upper Route Planner, your drivers can capture images of the package delivered. They can also record customer signatures as proof of delivery.

   Customer signatures or images of the package help you keep a clear record of each successful delivery. Keeping records always comes in handy when you receive false claims from customers about never having their package delivered.

3. Plan & Optimize Complex Routes

   Creating complex routes with over a hundred stops & priority delivery orders is only possible with mapping software. Upper Route Planner advanced optimization software helps you add up to 500 stops, add service time, & manage delivery time windows in a single route.

   Making high-volume deliveries means the complexity of your delivery route is equally high. Why have your entire team plan delivery routes for days when you can get it done in minutes with Upper Route Planner?

4. Plan Multiple Routes For Multiple Drivers

   To make hundreds of gift deliveries throughout the day, you probably have a team of drivers to do the job. Are you going to plan delivery routes separately for each driver? No, that’s just going to eat up a lot of your back-office time.

   Use Upper Route Planner to upload all your stops at once. Upper Route Planner divides the addresses equally among all your drivers. Not just that, you can dispatch these routes through email or SMS with a single click. So sit back and enjoy your coffee, while Upper Route Planner takes over your early morning routine chaos.

5. Improve Customer Communication

   Delivery businesses must focus on offering great customer service. To ensure your customers have a great delivery experience, it is essential to have clear communication and reach them on time.

   Upper Route Planner helps you achieve an exceptional delivery experience by keeping your customers informed at every stage of the delivery process. You can send out the location of their package through email or SMS.

   In addition to that, your customers receive an ETA notification so your customers know when to expect their package. Not just that, your customers can leave specific delivery instructions for your drivers to help them make deliveries according to their liking.

Ready to accelerate your delivery process from planning to dispatching with Upper Route Planner?

Trusted by many small and medium-sized businesses worldwide, Upper Route Planner is the best route planning software to help you save maximum time and money!

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FAQ

How will you tackle a customer whose delivery is late?

Communicating directly with the customer regarding the delay is the best way to tackle late deliveries. Don’t hide from the customers, don’t avoid the customers. Make sure you communicate clearly. Your customers should not be left in the dark.

How can we increase our delivery capacity?

To increase delivery capacity, you must use route planning and optimization software. Using the software, you can optimize routes by considering specific factors like driver availability, time windows, and priorities. The delivery capacity is increased when real-time factors are taken into consideration while route planning and optimization.

How do I tell my customer about delivery?

As a delivery business, you can keep your customers informed about their packages by sending out recipient notifications through email or SMS.

How can I stop delivery delays?

Delivery delays can be avoided by realistic planning. When you create routes considering real-time constraints, it is easier to plan realistic routes according to time and resource limitations.

Get Upper Route Planner For Christmas & Holiday Gift Deliveries

Whether you’re a retailer, wholesaler, or e-commerce business, we know you’re going to be swamped with more deliveries than you can handle. We are here to help you provide ease and flexibility for timely deliveries during the busy holiday season.

WIth Upper Route Planner, streamline the overwhelming number of deliveries this holiday season and save hours of route planning and optimizing time in just a matter of minutes. Get the most optimized routes to maximize your delivery potential!

To know more about how Upper Route Planner is useful to your business, you can start your free trial with us and explore a range of benefits.